Policy & regulation

MPs have voted to scrap criminal penalties for women in England and Wales who end their own pregnancies, following a string of controversial cases in recent years. Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi’s amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill was backed in the Commons by 379 votes to 137, a majority of 242. The proposal would [...]

Three Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill to restrict companies from collecting or sharing reproductive health data, in response to growing concerns over digital surveillance following the fall of Roe v Wade. The “my body, my data” bill was introduced in both the US House and Senate and aims to prohibit businesses from collecting, using, [...]

Public health bodies should create official period tracking apps to compete with commercial versions, experts say, amid rising concerns over how private companies collect and sell women’s sensitive health data. Cycle tracking apps (CTAs), often presented as tools for empowerment or managing fertility, are a “goldmine” for advertisers, according to research from the University of [...]

Women in England and Wales would no longer face criminal charges for ending their own pregnancies under legal changes to be voted on by MPs next week. As reported by BBC News, the proposed amendment to the crime and policing bill would decriminalise abortion at any stage when carried out by a woman in relation [...]

A record gap has emerged between women and men in the US on abortion rights, with 61 per cent of women now identifying as pro-choice compared with just 41 per cent of men. The divide has widened sharply in the three years since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the landmark ruling that [...]

Women using weight loss injections have been advised to use reliable contraception after the UK’s medicines regulator received 40 reports of pregnancies—some of them unexpected, despite birth control. As reported by Sky News, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued a public safety alert about GLP-1 receptor agonists—including Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Saxenda, [...]

British medical experts are raising concerns about the underrepresentation of women in clinical studies, The Guardian reports, with male-only trials outnumbering female-focused research by 67 per cent. Healthcare professionals say they often have to make treatment decisions without enough sex-specific evidence, according to The Guardian’s analysis of comprehensive research data. A joint investigation by the Medicines and Healthcare [...]

US regulators have approved the first at-home vaginal self-collection device for cervical cancer screening, offering women an alternative to in-clinic exams. The Teal Wand, developed by women's health company Teal Health, allows individuals to collect samples at home without a speculum and send them to a certified laboratory for testing using the same methods as in-clinic [...]

Diagnostics company Visby Medical has been granted De Novo authorisation for the Visby Medical Women's Sexual Health Test by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Over the Counter (OTC) use. The groundbreaking test enables rapid and private at-home testing for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis — the three most common curable sexually transmitted infections [...]